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if we're consciously going to allow steroid use in our minds, then all athletes should have access to them legally. To allow some access to illegal drugs to enhance performance is giving advantage to those who are willing to risk their life to pursue enhanced athletic ability is simply not fair. And in sports, making a level playing field for all is what the competition aspect of sports is all about. Those who went outside what the rules and regulations to further enhance their performance cheated. Its that simple. Strip them of any titles if it can be proven without a doubt.

Hold on, many, many people do this now. Guys play through pain and destroy themselves for glory and cash. We all know the story of Lott and his finger. Steve Young kept trotting out to have his brains smashed up by Warren Sapp. Eventually he'd decided his cash to risk ratio had reached its limit and quit. That's the reality of pro sports... how far will you go to make the money.

As for titles... irrelevant. Do you think Reggie Bush gives a damn about his Heisman? He's collected $50 million bucks by age 30 and his entire family is living large off it. They don't really do it for titles. If they played for "love of the game" then Peyton Manning and Drew Brees would take league minimum salaries and help their teams invest in a legion of quality players. Instead they play for the almighty buck and in the end when they walk with a limp and can't remember their kid's birthday they will complain how the NFL (or any pro sport) took too much from them.

I'll leave the fairness thing... as life's not fair. Some guys have insane talent, some incredible drive and some a willingness to do that which others won't...

He was an entertainer and he entertained. The laws are irrelevant (and totally without merit ...

Huh? When you sign the back of your racing license, you agree to abide by the rules set forth by USA Cycling, UCI, WADA and USADA (or the particular governing body of your country). I know this because its what I agree to every year when I sign my USA Cycling license.
It's the same reason they have refs in football. Everyone agrees to play by the rules and they need to be enforced.

Huh? When you sign the back of your racing license, you agree to abide by the rules set forth by USA Cycling, UCI, WADA and USADA (or the particular governing body of your country). I know this because its what I agree to every year when I sign my USA Cycling license.
It's the same reason they have refs in football. Everyone agrees to play by the rules and they need to be enforced.

+1 - any professional athlete that cheats and prospers with what is seemingly little consequences (aside from losing a title) to the tune of $125 million is sending the wrong signals to our youth. Far from a good example and without UCI doing something significant monday, I think it will destroy their credibility and that of cycling.

Those that treat all sports as pure entertainment with no regard for the rules except those they choose to enforce are partly responsible for the destruction imo.

Huh? When you sign the back of your racing license, you agree to abide by the rules set forth by USA Cycling, UCI, WADA and USADA (or the particular governing body of your country). I know this because its what I agree to every year when I sign my USA Cycling license.
It's the same reason they have refs in football. Everyone agrees to play by the rules and they need to be enforced.

Who are they? Those are organizations that profits wildly off cyclers/players. If your company paid you to do a job and you took a cocktail of drugs to be way better at it, thus making even more money for them with no risk to anyone...well in the end you both profit off it.

+1 - any professional athlete that cheats and prospers with what is seemingly little consequences (aside from losing a title) to the tune of $125 million is sending the wrong signals to our youth. Far from a good example and without UCI doing something significant monday, I think it will destroy their credibility and that of cycling.

Those that treat all sports as pure entertainment with no regard for the rules except those they choose to enforce are partly responsible for the destruction imo.

Think about the kids... oh think about what Johnny may think. Wait a second, we're in the same country where Ray Lewis helped some men escape after they killed someone, right? Mike Vick ran a criminal enterprise for years; he had staff and housing set up for his criminal enterprise yet the public could only talk about the stupid dogs and once he ran back a touchdown his organized crime was forgotten. Kobe Bryant...yeah... in the end we barely punish real crime but a guy convinces the public into thinking his entertainment is anything more than entertainment, well he's evil. Barry Bonds and his roids, look out about the kids they may want to hit 70 homeruns too! Tiger Woods cheated on his wife - damn him and Nike!

He was an entertainer and he entertained. The laws are irrelevant (and totally without merit - like marijuana laws and miscegenation laws, they're invasive and have no place in the personal/professional lives of others). He should pack up and move outside the reach of the hypocritical US. Live out life somewhere peaceful and like I said, come back in a few years and collect a few more million for writing a book that says nothing...

SNL publicized this idea back in 1988. Maybe it's time to do it for real. Why should pro wrestling be the only sport with blatant drug use?

Who are they? Those are organizations that profits wildly off cyclers/players. If your company paid you to do a job and you took a cocktail of drugs to be way better at it, thus making even more money for them with no risk to anyone...well in the end you both profit off it.

Those are the organizations who's rules every American cyclist agrees to abide by. Lance broke the rules, he got caught, and now he has to pay the (small) price. It's simple.

I don't see how they could have avoided it. The evidence was overwhelming, and if they chose to take it to the CAS, all their dirty laundry would have been aired also. Now, in terms of LA, all that remains to be seen is what they decide to do with the prize money he's going to have to return and what they do with the titles.

Then we have the cases against Bruyneel, Ferrari, other implicated cyclists and teams, etc. etc. etc...

My favorite irony of this is that he's probably going to be stripped of his bronze medal from the 2000 Olympic Time Trial. However, the guy who won the silver in the same race, who keeps his medal, is non other than Jan Ullrich.

It's a tough one. I think most of the guys in cycling have known for some time that if they don't juice, they'll be somewhere in the middle/rear of the pack. I can only imagine that further inroads will be made in performance enhancing drugs and practices that are hard to detect. 'Practices' as in blood doping is probably not technically a drug.

he perjured himself, threatened people for calling him a doper, sued (and won) lawsuits against several newspapers on libel/slander theories (even though what they printed/said was true), lied to Congress.....arguably defrauded all of his sponsors, including the US Postal Service, Livestrong, Nike etc.

Threw his teammates under the bus, the list goes on.

Why should he get to "apologize", he's a friggin' deceptive, intentional liar, and kept this charade up for many, many years.

He just didn't "make a mistake", or have a "lapse in judgment", he did it for many, many years...he had a deliberate, sustained campaign to conceal his violation of laws, cycling rules, ethics, morality, you name it.

The only thing I like about the story is that Oprah's crappy interview, on her crappy network which appears to be failing, got scooped.

I like how sources leaked this story long before the interview will air, so we all know what will come...instead of having Oprah advertise it as, a stunning admission by Lance, you'll have to watch my show to find out what it is....

he perjured himself, threatened people for calling him a doper, sued (and won) lawsuits against several newspapers on libel/slander theories (even though what they printed/said was true), lied to Congress.....arguably defrauded all of his sponsors, including the US Postal Service, Livestrong, Nike etc.

Threw his teammates under the bus, the list goes on.

And it looks like he is going to continue to do so. Isn't it being said that he is also offering up testimony against doping teammates in exchange for exoneration?

Lance Armstrong has shown himself to be a classic psychopath: charming, able to manipulate people to his ends, able to mimic emotions without actually feeling them, and able to perpetuate a lie endlessly until it stops serving his needs, at which time he shifts to another lie until that stops working. All the while, he disregards social and actual laws and mores, disregards the feelings of others, displays occasional outbursts when threatened or confronted, and all the while feels no remorse or guilt for what he is or has done.

If we stopped paying attention to him, he'd go away, quite possibly literally and by his own hand.

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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

he perjured himself, threatened people for calling him a doper, sued (and won) lawsuits against several newspapers on libel/slander theories (even though what they printed/said was true), lied to Congress.....arguably defrauded all of his sponsors, including the US Postal Service, Livestrong, Nike etc.